Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported
that Public Safety Canada expressed concern about the public safety and
national security risks associated with lessening or removing foreign
ownership restrictions in the telecom sector in a confidential letter
to Industry Canada obtained under the Access to Information Act. While
the claims are suspect - the overwhelming majority of OECD countries
removed telecom foreign ownership restrictions years ago - it is worth
noting that Public Safety, which was led at the time by Vic Toews,
appears to have tried to circumvent a public consultation by sending
two letters to Industry Canada on the same day. One letter was made
available to the public as part of an open consultation process,
while the other was labelled secret and only now released under ATI.
The letter obtained by Bloomberg, dated February 25, 2011, was signed
by Assistant Deputy Minister Daniel Lavoie and addressed to Assistant
Deputy Minister Helen McDonald. The secret letter contains quotes that
include "the security and
intelligence community is of the view that lessening or removing
restrictions from the Telecommunications Act, without implementing
mitigation measures, would pose a considerable risk to public safety
and national security." The secret letter also apparently adds that
foreign ownership may hinder the ability to follow intelligence
priorities set by the Cabinet.
It notable that Public Safety filed a separate
public letter
with Industry Canada on the same day. That letter, also signed by
Daniel Lavoie and dated February 25, 2011, has been on the Industry
Canada website for months as it was submitted as part of the
consultation on the 700 MHz spectrum auction. The letter touches on the
same issues, but does not contain the same language. The unequivocal
warnings in the secret letter are gone, replaced by softer language
that "increased investment could inadvertently pose national security
risks."
The Public Safety approach is deeply troubling as the dual letter
approach may have been an effort to circumvent the public consultation
process by stating one
thing in a public consultation (which would be open for public comment)
and another in a secret letter sent to Industry Canada on the same day.
Industry Canada officials would know the real views of the department,
while the public would be kept in the dark.
Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareFriday April 20, 2012 |
|
The Australian High Court has issued a landmark
ruling
that firmly sides with Internet providers over their liability and
responsibility for alleged infringement on their networks. The closely
watched case involves a lawsuit by the movie industry which claimed
that iiNet, an Australian ISP, was liable for authorizing infringement
by its subscribers. The unanimous court rejected the movie industry
claims, finding that the ISP had no technical or contractual power to
act.
Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareFriday April 20, 2012 |
|
View
|
|
|
